As an avid reader of food blogs, and food related books, my most recent read The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America by Michael Ruhlman was excellent, it is amazing to me how many people refer to their earliest memories of food based on smell. Young children smelling their Grandmother's tomato sauce cooking on the stove, cookies baking in the oven, etc. I can remember walking into my Grandparents house for Thanksgiving and smelling my Grandma's amazing stuffing. Growing up, my Dad always is delicious and I find myself using the same base ingredients. The smell of those vegetables sauteing brings me right back to my childhood home on Greenbush Drive. Another one of my early food memories is of bananas and as a result I have had an aversion to them ever since. My beloved Great Grandmother, a diabetic, had a smart snack of a banana every day to maintain her sugars and those afternoon hunger pangs between lunch and dinner. The problem was that she didn't have any teeth. Need I say more? It's been 20 years since those memorable afternoon snacks and I feel that I'm ready to use my interest in experimenting with chia seeds to get over my aversion to bananas.
Before I begin to describe my new appreciation for chia seeds, I must make reference to a charming banana dessert recipe I found last week. Oh She Glows posted this vegan, gluten free, soy free, sugar free recipe for "Mess Free Banana Split Bites". I made 20 of them for friends a few weekends ago and they were quick and easy to make and absolutely delicious! I brought in the few leftovers I had to work and they were a hit! I followed the recipe exactly but was brainstorming with friends of other fruit that we could use; blueberries, pineapple, etc. We'll see what we can do when the fruit season begins and the prices for berry fruit at the grocery store starts going down.
photo credit: www.ohsheglows.com
Introducing Chia Seeds:
A quick search on chia seeds on google, opens a plethera of information and uses for these tiny seeds of goodness, but the health benefits are mind blowing. According to http://www.choosingraw.com:
"....they contain 6 times more calcium, 11 times more phosphorus, and 4.6 times more potassium per 100g of edible portion than milk, and have 6 times more iron per 100g of edible portion than spinach, 1.8 times more iron than lentils, and 2.4 times more iron than beef liver....and a high protein composition [of] 19-23%."
While these recipes can't replace your daily serving of leafy green spinach or lentins (Sorry kids!), that laundry list of beneficial vitamins makes me think this would be a great breakfast, or pre-workout snack to add to my weekly menu.
So, with a little internet digging and some messy kitchen experimenting, I made the following:
-Banana Raisin Chia Breakfast Pudding
-Banana Fruit Chia Smoothie
-Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Dessert Pudding
...all within 30 minutes and only 4 bananas!
Banana Raisin Chia Breakfast Pudding
With the banana theme in mind, I used a chia pudding recipe I found and added raisins and bananas. This recipe is simply water, chia seeds, tahini, bananas, and raisins. http://www.pure2raw.com
I love flexible recipes that allow for ingredient substitutions and this one is queen of the mountain. Per Pure2raw's recipe, you can add anything from "banana, maple syrup, stevia, coconut flakes, or any fruit of choice."
This is going to my breakfast of choice for the week, or as long as it lasts!
Banana Fruit Chia Smoothie
I used a recipe at www.brannyboilsover.com for the smoothie but instead of fresh strawberries I used a frozen bag of "Berry Medley" from Price Chopper, and instead of coconut milk I used rice milk.
Mixing the 1T of chia seeds with 1/4 C of water is key. But, I highly recommend you clean your mixing bowl right away, as the consistency is similar to oatmeal which likens to concrete when left alone too long. After mixing the smoothie in the Vitamix, the drink is very smooth and the seeds are undetectable in the berry and banana flavor.
Rejuvinating snack for those 3pm yawns at the office tomorrow? Sounds good to me!
And, finally, Dessert!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Seed Pudding
A friend at work has a daughter that has been recently diagnosed with a sugar allergy. This has me curious and reading labels, what has sugar in it? LOTS of things! But, the good kind of chocolate doesn't. Ghiardelli Cocoa Powder.
.JPG)
So, this recipe is gluten free, vegan, sugar free, soy free, sweet, and everything NICE!
Instead of the sweetener listed in the recipe I used only 1/4 C of Agave Nectar, and in my opinion, it tasted sweet enough for me, but you should make it to taste and experiment with different sweeteners that work best for your dietary needs.
Sadly enough these are all blender or bowl mixing recipes so no food smell memories for these, but how about taste memory. How many of you within a moment of thought can taste your favorite childhood candy? Hmm.....gobstoppers. :-)
Before I begin to describe my new appreciation for chia seeds, I must make reference to a charming banana dessert recipe I found last week. Oh She Glows posted this vegan, gluten free, soy free, sugar free recipe for "Mess Free Banana Split Bites". I made 20 of them for friends a few weekends ago and they were quick and easy to make and absolutely delicious! I brought in the few leftovers I had to work and they were a hit! I followed the recipe exactly but was brainstorming with friends of other fruit that we could use; blueberries, pineapple, etc. We'll see what we can do when the fruit season begins and the prices for berry fruit at the grocery store starts going down.
photo credit: www.ohsheglows.com
Introducing Chia Seeds:
A quick search on chia seeds on google, opens a plethera of information and uses for these tiny seeds of goodness, but the health benefits are mind blowing. According to http://www.choosingraw.com:
"....they contain 6 times more calcium, 11 times more phosphorus, and 4.6 times more potassium per 100g of edible portion than milk, and have 6 times more iron per 100g of edible portion than spinach, 1.8 times more iron than lentils, and 2.4 times more iron than beef liver....and a high protein composition [of] 19-23%."
While these recipes can't replace your daily serving of leafy green spinach or lentins (Sorry kids!), that laundry list of beneficial vitamins makes me think this would be a great breakfast, or pre-workout snack to add to my weekly menu.
So, with a little internet digging and some messy kitchen experimenting, I made the following:
-Banana Raisin Chia Breakfast Pudding
-Banana Fruit Chia Smoothie
-Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Dessert Pudding
...all within 30 minutes and only 4 bananas!
Banana Raisin Chia Breakfast Pudding
With the banana theme in mind, I used a chia pudding recipe I found and added raisins and bananas. This recipe is simply water, chia seeds, tahini, bananas, and raisins. http://www.pure2raw.com
I love flexible recipes that allow for ingredient substitutions and this one is queen of the mountain. Per Pure2raw's recipe, you can add anything from "banana, maple syrup, stevia, coconut flakes, or any fruit of choice."
This is going to my breakfast of choice for the week, or as long as it lasts!
Banana Fruit Chia Smoothie
I used a recipe at www.brannyboilsover.com for the smoothie but instead of fresh strawberries I used a frozen bag of "Berry Medley" from Price Chopper, and instead of coconut milk I used rice milk.
Mixing the 1T of chia seeds with 1/4 C of water is key. But, I highly recommend you clean your mixing bowl right away, as the consistency is similar to oatmeal which likens to concrete when left alone too long. After mixing the smoothie in the Vitamix, the drink is very smooth and the seeds are undetectable in the berry and banana flavor.
Rejuvinating snack for those 3pm yawns at the office tomorrow? Sounds good to me!
And, finally, Dessert!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Seed Pudding
A friend at work has a daughter that has been recently diagnosed with a sugar allergy. This has me curious and reading labels, what has sugar in it? LOTS of things! But, the good kind of chocolate doesn't. Ghiardelli Cocoa Powder.
.JPG)
So, this recipe is gluten free, vegan, sugar free, soy free, sweet, and everything NICE!
Instead of the sweetener listed in the recipe I used only 1/4 C of Agave Nectar, and in my opinion, it tasted sweet enough for me, but you should make it to taste and experiment with different sweeteners that work best for your dietary needs.
Sadly enough these are all blender or bowl mixing recipes so no food smell memories for these, but how about taste memory. How many of you within a moment of thought can taste your favorite childhood candy? Hmm.....gobstoppers. :-)
